I wonder how many blogs started with that title this week in western Washington State? We've had record temperatures here. It was over 100 degrees Farenheit in Seattle yesterday. That's never happened before.
We had record freezing temperatures last winter.
"Where's our global warming?" people were heard to say, "We can use some of that warm."
Well, now we have it.
Evenings are the worst. The kitchen is the last place I want to be with the sun coming through the bay windows. Appetite is low and it's contrary to nature to bring more heat in through the cooking devices.
The first night I waited until the sun ducked behind Scimitar Ridge, but it was almost 9:30 by the time dinner was over. The second night I wangled dinner out at an air conditioned restaurant. The third night, and it must have been the hottest in the series, I looked at John and said we should cook as much of dinner as we could on the outside grill. That's what steaks are for, and I'm glad I bought the little grill "wok" thing with holes in it. It handles vegetables real well.
You can only play the air conditioned restaurant card about once a week, so I am happy to say this evening is the coolest one lately. It's only 82 degrees outside and 86 in the kitchen.
I did sneak down to the Majestic to visit with my oldest son late this afternoon. We sat in the air conditioned lounge, had cold drinks and watched the new mail drop across the street from our table. It used to be in the one-way alley way between the city hall and the post office bays. It was a great driver's side approach, but somebody worried that although it had been in the same place for twenty years and nobody could remember any wrecks, that there might be one some day and they should move it. Now it sits on the kerb of 5th Street with a passenger-side approach and cars are coming from both directions to get at it. Not everyone thinks to bring a passenger.
One of these days, the right hard-head in a hurry will make the front page of the newspaper.
Not much to do in a small town on a very hot day.
Dinner is in the oven. Just a chicken and some potatoes, nothing fancy. I can sit way in the back of the house, in the dark den with the window fan. Sipping an iced tea, I can even stay awake.
The teenager, Ross, just returned from town with some guys who said they want to swim in the pond. They stood on the dock in their shorts, all ready to plunge, when someone pointed and said, "Leaches." Those are fire newts, but there's no telling some people.
They ruined the supersoakers on the Fourth of July by pouring kerosene in them to make shift blow torches. The kerosene dissolved the threads and soft plastic fittings rendering them useless. Bad planning.
So now they're in the game room playing pinball, and that may be better than leaving wet towels all over the hardwood floors. I'll leave it alone.
No real complaints, though, about the high temperatures. There is entertainment in watching news stories of people scrambling to find air conditioning units at premium prices (as soon as they're installed the temps will be back in the 70s). Some will flood their basements with portable swimming pool mishaps.
I think most people will find a way to lay low or have fun.
I'll wait for the sun to dip behind Scimitar and take a peddle boat around the pond. Maybe I should get one that looks like this:
